Sometimes I see it coming a mile away. Finn gets into a creative groove.
It’s usually late at night.
“Time to turn out the light” I might say.
“WHAT?! But I just started a project!” he’ll respond. “Just let me finish this one piece!”
Five minutes turns into an hour and the next thing we know it’s ten o’clock.
Sometimes it’s clear early in the morning that he is devoting the whole day to creating. But occasionally he’ll get into a groove in the evening after a playdate.
Finn has been playing the piano since he was able to climb onto the piano bench and he’s been slowly learning how to read music. A couple of years ago, after several music lessons with Erin, he became interested in composing his own music.
Though he didn’t really know what notes he was writing, he was having fun putting them on a musical staff and having Erin play it on the piano.
One day when Erin’s mother and aunt were visiting, he composed a piece and we all joined in premiering it; Erin on the piano and the rest of us with various string and percussion “instruments” all at his direction. It was an amusing afternoon. But also a surprisingly interesting piece of music.
The other night, the creative juices were flowing again. It started with a craft project where he was cutting and taping various pieces of cardboard together forming “magical boxes”. Then he made some puppet-like things, followed by colorful construction paper covered cylinders that were to be wand holders I think.
Then he started playing the piano. Next he was drawing out a musical staff on a piece of paper, getting ready to compose. He can read music a little better now so he wasn’t just writing random notes on the page this time.
Soon, he had Erin at the piano with him. This time they were playing his composition together.
When Erin and I moved into our first house years ago, I remember the night the movers arrived with her old childhood piano. And she pulled out some music and played for the first time. The music echoed throughout and I felt the house became a home.
The other night when they were playing together, something shifted for Finn. I could see a confidence in him at work creating a piece of music. In that moment, nothing mattered more to him than getting it right. And Erin was taking him seriously, honoring his process, giving him her complete attention.
It was impossible not to feel the warm and fuzzies, watching both of them.
Was the next great piece of classical music being created? Well, I think contemporary would be the proper category. But I wouldn’t be surprised if became something larger at a later stage.
But the most important thing that was being created was a little human who was finding joy and purpose in creating.
And that’s a lasting work of art.